


The Simplest Touch

by Somnaborium



Series: Strength & Clarity [2]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Kink Meme, Mass Effect Kink Meme, Purring, Sweet, Touch, Touching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-08 06:01:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11640429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Somnaborium/pseuds/Somnaborium
Summary: Touch is a wonderful thing.





	The Simplest Touch

**Author's Note:**

> **DISCLAIMER**  
> I do not own anything from the Mass Effect game series (unfortunately) but BioWare does.  
> Damn them.  
> I’m just borrowing their characters for fun when my muse grabs me.
> 
> * * *
> 
> From the Mass Effect Kink Meme:  
> Jaal/Any - Purring  
> We all knew this was coming.  
> Jaal purrs when he's content and relaxed or when someone touches him in a way that's soothing. Let me see somebody's reaction to learning that for the first time!  
> Can be platonic or romantic with any character. No preference!  
> 
> 
> * * *
> 
> Come and say "hi" to me on [Tumblr!](https://somnaborium.tumblr.com/)

Touch is a wonderful thing.  
It can communicate so much in one simple, small gesture - anger, hurt, comfort, friendship, solidarity and love.  
  
For Jaal, openness with touch is something of a second nature and something he's learning isn't always welcomed amongst the other species he shares a ship with.  
He yearned for his homeworld, for the freedom of expression that being there brought him and for the easy carefree touches that were often traded.  
  
Navigating the minefields of acceptable boundaries was something Jaal was not used to at all. His species are known for being free and open with affection and emotion - holding himself back felt false, as though he was wearing a mask covering his true self; something he was struggling to cope with.  
  
He felt fortunate then, that there was one exception to the rule of “stop invading people’s personal space, Jaal” and that exception was the rather wonderful human who was currently cradling his head in her lap, stroking her fingertips over his neck slowly and gently in a gesture that felt curiously like being petted.  
  
Not that it was unwelcome. Far from it, in fact.  
Jaal felt soothed, calm and content, his bioelectricity humming pleasantly under his skin as Cassi Ryder drew any stress and worry from him with her feather-light touch.  
  
“Uhh, Jaal?” Her voice was a sweet chime to his senses and he felt a lazy smile lift his mouth. “You okay there?”  
“Hmm…” Jaal peered up at her through slitted eyes. “Yes, dearest. Why?”  
  
Cassi giggled, a sound not heard all that often and one he was always grateful to be privy to.  
  
“Well, it’s just that you were making this sound…”  
“Ah. Was I snoring again?”  
“Not exactly, no,” she giggled again, covering her mouth as she did.  
  
Jaal twisted round and propped himself up on his elbows to look fully at the woman he had come to care deeply for, worrying about what noise he could’ve possibly been making to cause such a reaction.  
  
“Cassi, what _exactly_ was this sound?”  
“Um, well,” she reached out to him, fingers finding a sensitive spot on the back of his neck as she smiled broadly. “You were sort of, well, you were _purring_.”  
“Purring?”  
“Yeah, like the noise a cat makes when it’s content. You remember the vids I showed you of cats, right?”  
  
Jaal let out a loud chuckle as he realised what she was talking about and moved to sit back against the headboard of her bed, pulling her sit between his legs with her back against him, a pillow nestled against the bony protrusions on his chest to protect her.  
  
“We do not have a word for it, but it’s a noise commonly made when an angara is comfortable, or if we feel safe and cared for. It’s a way to let our family or a mate know how we are feeling,” he began moving his fingers up and down her bare arms, relishing in the feel of how soft she felt against his slightly rough skin. “Sometimes, it is better to not interrupt a pleasant or intimate moment with words and so we have sounds that show how we feel. Do humans not have anything similar?”  
  
Cassi shivered at his touch as it crept across her stomach, fingers just grazing the underside of her breasts, her breath shaking just slightly as she felt the thrum of his bioelectricity sparking on her skin; heating it under his fingers.  
  
Without realising, she sighed - a soft moan lifting it from a whisper into something tangible in the silence of the room.  
  
“See?” Jaal smiled into her hair and placed a sweet kiss behind her ear. “You do it as well, dearest.”  
“Mmm…” Cassi tilted her head back to look at him, a sleepy smile gracing her lips. “I think I could get to like this kind of communication.”  
“Then I shall endeavour to do it more often.”  
  
Jaal brushed his fingers lower, just past her abdomen to her hips and back up; skimming her slender waist and he smiled as her arms moved up, hands coming to caress the folds of skin at his neck, a purr rumbling in his voice and a breathy sigh shaking hers as they told each other wordlessly how much they appreciated each other's touch.


End file.
